Air France Flight 447 has vanished, completely. 228 passengers and crew on that flight are almost certainly dead. Why do I mention this tragedy on this forum? Beacuse one of the passengers was Prince Pedro-Luis of Orleans-Braganza, 3rd in line to the throne of Brazil and nephew of the current Emperor Luiz I of Brazil.

__________________"Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." - George Santayana

I apologize, Prince Pedro Luis was 3rd in line to Brazil's throne, not 4th.

His younger 23-year-old brother is now the 3rd in line to the Brazilian throne.

__________________"Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." - George Santayana

Depends on whether one counts Dom Luiz as "first in line" or as if he were Emperor. I believe it is common to count the Pretender as "first in line" since he is not actually occupying the throne. (Though he should be!) Dom Luiz is not yet Emperor, as Britain's Prince Charles is not yet King, hence "first in line."

I shall say the panikhída tonight for all of them, with a special mention of HIH Dom Pedro Luis. Memory eternal!

__________________'Monarchy can easily be ‘debunked;' but watch the faces, mark the accents of the debunkers. These are the men whose tap-root in Eden has been cut: whom no rumour of the polyphony, the dance, can reach - men to whom pebbles laid in a row are more beautiful than an arch. Yet even if they desire equality, they cannot reach it. Where men are forbidden to honour a king they honour millionaires, athletes or film-stars instead: even famous prostitutes or gangsters. For spiritual nature, like bodily nature, will be served; deny it food and it will gobble poison.' C.S. Lewis God save Her Majesty Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom, Canada and Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith, etc.! Vive le Très haut, très puissant et très excellent Prince, Louis XX, Par la grâce de Dieu, Roi de France et de Navarre, Roi Très-chrétien!

Sadly, if Prince Pedro is indeed deceased, he is survived not only by his parents Prince Antonio and Princess Christine, but by both of his grandmothers, the former Princess Maria of Bavaria (widow of Prince Pedro Henrique), 94, and the former Princess Alix of Luxembourg (widow of Antoine, Prince de Ligne), 79. I'm sure these venerable royal ladies never thought they would have to bury their grandson.

Now I realize that this is a tragedy for everyone involved, all 228 apparent victims and their families and friends. However, for those of us who did not know any of the victims, but knew who Prince Pedro was, the royal connection makes what would otherwise be a tragic but remote news story somehow more "real" and even more upsetting. Therefore I don't think it's inappropriate to focus on the one passenger one had heard of prior to the accident, and his family.

The Prince Pedro Henrique Theodore mentioned was de jure Emperor Pedro III of Brazil between 1921 and 1981. His wife Princess Maria of Bavaria (daughter of King Ludwig III of Bavaria) is thus de jure Dowager Empress of Brazil. She's also 95 and apprently just outlived her 26-year-old grandson. A fate no grandmother on the planet should have to go through.

My condolences go out to the Imperial House of Brazil and to the mediatized Princely House of Ligne in these times of grief.

__________________"Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." - George Santayana

The late Prince Pedro Luis was also a male-line descendant of Louis-Philippe, King of the French, King Henri IV of France, and Hugh Capet.

__________________"Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." - George Santayana

Prince Pedro Luis of Orleans-Braganza, 3rd in line to the Brazilian throne, 35th in line to the Orleanist claim to the French throne, and 110th in line to the Legitimist claim to the French throne has been officially declared as deceased as of June 2nd, 2009 CE.

__________________"Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." - George Santayana

On an ominous note, a bomb threat delayed an Air France flight traveling from Buenos Aires to Paris on May 27th. The threat was ruled a false alarm, but still. I'm spooked.

__________________"Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." - George Santayana

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